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Most of those jobs are for skilled welders, machinists and set up, inspection, metal fabrication, composite fabrication, plumbers and HVAC technicians. Welding is really hurting right now with the average age of welders being 63.

Back in the 70s and 80s when all the pipeline work was going and you had about 45 nuke plants being built across the country at the same time, plus all the high rise construction in the cities there were highly skilled welders available everywhere. Those guys have mostly retired now or in their 9th inning. Without the demand for those skills they (the skills not the people) die off or dwindle to only a few.

And as you know NHM, welding is far from a non-thinking job. Maybe repetitive production line work is but out in the field doing x-ray welds you better have your brain engaged. Men and women who can stay on a 100% x-ray welders list are in the top 10% or so. To be able to repetitively make x-ray quality welds which pass every time is tough. I worked with many who did that work and they not only had the pressure of making a x-ray weld they had some of the toughest position welds to boot.

1)The Affordable Care Act originated in the United States Senate (remember this -- it's important).

2)The legislation itself, in addition to the new regulatory rules, amounts to over 30,000 pages.

3)Neither the President nor a single person in Congress read the bill in its entirety in large part because the regulatory details had to be worked out AFTER the legislation was passed.

4)The President assured the American people that everyone (that means everyone) who currently has health insurance would be able to keep it. Both the Administration and the Democratic Congressional leadership has admitted that, behind closed doors, they knew some people would have their coverage dropped.

5)The ACA goes before the Supreme Court which rules, contrary to the Administration's own arguments before the court, that the ACA is Constitutional ONLY because it constitutes a 'tax.'

6)Nonetheless, the United States Constitution specifies in Article I, Section 7, Clause 1 that ALL revenue bills (including revenue generating bills) MUST originate in the House of Representatives. Remember when I said the bill originated in the Senate and that the Supreme Court ruled the ACA is a tax?

7)The Administration had years of preparation before the enrollment website went live to ensure a smooth process for those Americans wanting to enroll or being compelled to enroll by law. By every metric and measure, the enrollment system has been an absolute unmitigated disaster with not one person in the Administration taking any responsibility for the massive foul-up.

8. A small cadre of Republicans who have long warned on the mismanagement of the ACA were successful in shutting down the government with the intention of forcing Democrats to work with them on fixing many of the problems with the ACA and the enrollment process. The Administration refused to negotiate regardless of the fact that it is the Constitutional right of Congress to establish the budget.

9. Democrats refuse to negotiate on the budget for final implementation of the ACA blaming the shut down on Republicans and lambasting their concerns over the ACA.

10. Millions of Americans are losing their health insurance because their existing health plans are not compliant with the established regulations of the ACA forcing insurance companies to discontinue those plans. Many more are seeing their insurance costs increase because their plans must now include components that are both unwanted and unnecessary. This is a problem the President knew would exist while assuring the American people that they would be able to keep their existing plans.

11. As a result of enrollment issues, increasing cost of premiums, and dropped coverage, the ACA is collapsing. It's doing so under the weight of 30,000+ pages of a poorly conceived, poorly written, and poorly executed piece of legislation that nobody in the government read prior to passage.

12. This collapse has left the Administration and Congressional Democrats scrambling to find a solution to the problem. Their solution? Arbitrarily change the law without Congressional approval adopting several of the changes that Republicans called for during the shut down making the shut down entirely unnecessary if Democrats had just agreed to several weeks ago what they are now proposing themselves. So who was truly at fault for the shut down? Ask yourself that question.

The hallmark piece of legislation for one of the most disastrous Presidents in American history is going down in flames, and it couldn't please me more.

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Just because the President now says Americans can keep their plans...does not mean it can or will happen? Many state's attnys are saying they cannot make this happen given the way the law is written. The whole thing is such a cluster puck that I can't imagine what will happen next? Will some get to now keep their plans, and if so, for how long? IF some states won't allow this distortion does it open a case for unfair treatment under the law? What a mess.

Actually I am encouraged by the advances President Obama has made this week. He has gone from "it's all Bush's fault" to " I didn't know anything about it" to "it's all my fault". If it wasn't so sad it would be refreshing.

1)The Affordable Care Act originated in the United States Senate (remember this -- it's important).

2)The legislation itself, in addition to the new regulatory rules, amounts to over 30,000 pages.

3)Neither the President nor a single person in Congress read the bill in its entirety in large part because the regulatory details had to be worked out AFTER the legislation was passed.

4)The President assured the American people that everyone (that means everyone) who currently has health insurance would be able to keep it. Both the Administration and the Democratic Congressional leadership has admitted that, behind closed doors, they knew some people would have their coverage dropped.

5)The ACA goes before the Supreme Court which rules, contrary to the Administration's own arguments before the court, that the ACA is Constitutional ONLY because it constitutes a 'tax.'

6)Nonetheless, the United States Constitution specifies in Article I, Section 7, Clause 1 that ALL revenue bills (including revenue generating bills) MUST originate in the House of Representatives. Remember when I said the bill originated in the Senate and that the Supreme Court ruled the ACA is a tax?

7)The Administration had years of preparation before the enrollment website went live to ensure a smooth process for those Americans wanting to enroll or being compelled to enroll by law. By every metric and measure, the enrollment system has been an absolute unmitigated disaster with not one person in the Administration taking any responsibility for the massive foul-up.

8. A small cadre of Republicans who have long warned on the mismanagement of the ACA were successful in shutting down the government with the intention of forcing Democrats to work with them on fixing many of the problems with the ACA and the enrollment process. The Administration refused to negotiate regardless of the fact that it is the Constitutional right of Congress to establish the budget.

9. Democrats refuse to negotiate on the budget for final implementation of the ACA blaming the shut down on Republicans and lambasting their concerns over the ACA.

10. Millions of Americans are losing their health insurance because their existing health plans are not compliant with the established regulations of the ACA forcing insurance companies to discontinue those plans. Many more are seeing their insurance costs increase because their plans must now include components that are both unwanted and unnecessary. This is a problem the President knew would exist while assuring the American people that they would be able to keep their existing plans.

11. As a result of enrollment issues, increasing cost of premiums, and dropped coverage, the ACA is collapsing. It's doing so under the weight of 30,000+ pages of a poorly conceived, poorly written, and poorly executed piece of legislation that nobody in the government read prior to passage.

12. This collapse has left the Administration and Congressional Democrats scrambling to find a solution to the problem. Their solution? Arbitrarily change the law without Congressional approval adopting several of the changes that Republicans called for during the shut down making the shut down entirely unnecessary if Democrats had just agreed to several weeks ago what they are now proposing themselves. So who was truly at fault for the shut down? Ask yourself that question.

The hallmark piece of legislation for one of the most disastrous Presidents in American history is going down in flames, and it couldn't please me more.

Broad strokes being the operative words here LOL

Like it or not this legislation will not be repealed and, like I've been saying all along, it will go through many revisions before it serves the most number of people and is adequately affordable. The process has in fact already begun. After all the blustering and posturing in the end the parties are coming together to do what has to be done. Anyone that truly beliefs the system we currently have, works just fine is guilty of supreme ignorance. It floors me that a forum mostly populated with work
Ing men seems to have so little regard for their own. I know what it cost To carry my own insurance and what the company pays to insure our people. It amounts to more than 30% of our gross income. So tell me that's just fine because it's not. If I could get a cheaper group policy that meets my guys needs I should be able to lower my hourly rates and give the guys a raise too all of which helps the economy because more folks could afford our services and my guys would spend their extra money buying stuff. See folks. It's called the big picture. Regressive's hold Ronald Reagan in high esteem for his trickle down theory but for some reason they refuse to see that lowering health care costs is exactly what Reagan was talking about. They are so damn busy hating Obama that they are blinded by the facts.

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I posted before that the ACA is the law of the land and it is not going away. I don't like the way it was pushed through but that is the typical Chicago way. I am hoping the party of reason will stop fighting it and let the American people shove it down the Democrats throat.

Mark

"Somewhere a Village is Missing Twelve Idiots!" - Casey Anthony

I never lost a cent on the jobs I didn't get!

Comment

Not gonna happen. Most folks want affordable insurance. Most folks see the big insurance companies ripping them off. Most folks see the ceo's taking huge salaries, building huge and grossly expensive headquarters. Most folks have had enough and while they are willing to piss and moan about how things are going, I seriously doubt most folks are happy with what they have.

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NHM, you don't get the big picture. Most folks will be paying more so that the folks who don't pay taxes, and can't afford insurance will get healthcare. That is the big picture! The ACA may be the law of the land but that doesn't mean it can't be repealed. There is absolutely no way they can fix this flop and have folks keep the plan they liked. We will all be paying more and have no choice at all. "Most" of us do not need pediatric coverage or many of the other benefits that are mandatory. Free will to choose is a thing of the past, and given our dwindling economy I predict this law will make things much worse for most folks. You can't honestly call it a better plan if you don't need the unnecessary overcoverage and can't afford it so that the government can take that money and extend coverage to others. Accept that we are doomed, it more accurately describes where we are headed. I can't believe any of you here actually think our government can fix the mess that was created by this 30,000 page law. Get real and do see the big picture. We need the population to decrease, we need people to die because the money is not there to save them, and still have any hope to turn the economy around. Maybe that is part of the President's grand plan, kill off part of the herd while this law jams up what was working for "most"!

Not gonna happen. Most folks want affordable insurance. Most folks see the big insurance companies ripping them off. Most folks see the ceo's taking huge salaries, building huge and grossly expensive headquarters. Most folks have had enough and while they are willing to piss and moan about how things are going, I seriously doubt most folks are happy with what they have.

Most people want affordable health care. Most people like their current health care. Obamacare is not what they wanted and is not what it was sold to be.

Mark

"Somewhere a Village is Missing Twelve Idiots!" - Casey Anthony

I never lost a cent on the jobs I didn't get!

Comment

NHM, you don't get the big picture. Most folks will be paying more so that the folks who don't pay taxes, and can't afford insurance will get healthcare. That is the big picture! The ACA may be the law of the land but that doesn't mean it can't be repealed. There is absolutely no way they can fix this flop and have folks keep the plan they liked. We will all be paying more and have no choice at all. "Most" of us do not need pediatric coverage or many of the other benefits that are mandatory. Free will to choose is a thing of the past, and given our dwindling economy I predict this law will make things much worse for most folks. You can't honestly call it a better plan if you don't need the unnecessary overcoverage and can't afford it so that the government can take that money and extend coverage to others. Accept that we are doomed, it more accurately describes where we are headed. I can't believe any of you here actually think our government can fix the mess that was created by this 30,000 page law. Get real and do see the big picture. We need the population to decrease, we need people to die because the money is not there to save them, and still have any hope to turn the economy around. Maybe that is part of the President's grand plan, kill off part of the herd while this law jams up what was working for "most"!

Frankie, those folks have been either abusing the system or they are on Medicaid. Nothing changes there. Poor folks will continue doing what they have always done. I get it, older folks don't need natal care and there are other such anomalies I. The bill that will be addressed.folks just seem to love going off the deep end though. Making dire predictions and mindlessly railing on. Like said ACA ain't going away and it shouldn't either.

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Frankie, those folks have been either abusing the system or they are on Medicaid. Nothing changes there. Poor folks will continue doing what they have always done. I get it, older folks don't need natal care and there are other such anomalies I. The bill that will be addressed.folks just seem to love going off the deep end though. Making dire predictions and mindlessly railing on. Like said ACA ain't going away and it shouldn't either.

Let me try and understand the above. People who have been paying for health insurance, and satisfied with their coverage, are now "abusing" the system because they don't want to pay double for coverage they do not need. Exactly which folks "love going off the deep end"? Would those folks include the Forum members who have posted of rates rising and other upsets? I suppose they are just a bunch of complainers or liars? NHM, you are detached from the dire reality many Americans are facing due to this dysfunctional law. You are of course entitled to your opinions which are devoid of reality, but you are insulting to many Americans including Forum members.